


What's Promised

by ardett



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Hopeful Ending, Origin Story, Sibling Bonding, Vignette, school days
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-14 06:40:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15382914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ardett/pseuds/ardett
Summary: Matt finds his way as time ticks down to his acceptance to the Garrison.A series of vignettes full of promises made and promises kept.





	What's Promised

**Author's Note:**

> For the [RevHOLT: a VLD Matt Zine](https://vldmattzine.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> I'm decently pleased with this fic and I was honored to be a part of this zine! The finished product was really beautiful and if you didn't get to grab a copy, please enjoy this!

5.

Matt is five when Katie is born.

He’s small, his handprints miniature compared to his dad’s, and the kitchen counter still towers above him, but Katie is even smaller. And chubbier. He pokes her cheek a couple of times in the cradle before his mother gently reprimands him. She says he looked like this when he was born too, soft and round. He doesn’t know if he believes her.

“Ka-tie… Katie.” He tries her name out loud. She doesn’t look like a Katie. She just looks… pudgy. “Pi- Pudgy,” he pouts. His mother ruffles his hair and he squeaks, ducking away.

“Come on, Matthew, let Katie get some sleep.” She guides him towards the door.

“When are we going to be able to play together?” Matt glances back at the cradle where a contented gurgle sounds. He thought for sure he would at least get a playmate out of this, but she’s too tiny to do anything fun. She can’t even talk yet. All he’s heard so far is blubbery giggles and the occasional whine.

His mother laughs. “Not for a while, baby. Don’t hold your breath.”

 

The first time Matt holds Katie, he’s struck by how warm she is. She radiates her own bubble of heat. Their mother reminds him to support the head and he does as she nuzzles against him. Her tiny, pudgy fingers grasp at his clothes. There’s so much life in her, even as small as she is. Her eyes are big and blinking, her breaths a bit weezy, and ever so gently against his chest, he feels her heartbeat.

He smiles and thinks that even though he wanted a brother, a baby sister might be even better.

 

4.

Matt can recite his four times tables forwards and backwards.

He’s working on his times tables up to ten forwards and backwards now but he doesn’t have anyone to practice with. He tries to practice with a classmate during recess but the other boy just looks at him strangely. He says they’ve only learned up to three.

Matt asks his teacher about it later, while everyone is grabbing their coats from their cubbies.

“I want to make sure you’re being challenged, Matthew,” she says. “You should be learning new things in school. If you already know it, there’s no need to keep quizzing you on it.”

“But…” His brow scrunches. “But other people aren’t taking the same quiz I am?”

“There are a few kids in other classes taking the same quizzes as you. But it’s true, most of your peers aren’t.”

“But their quiz is easier. That’s not fair!” He pouts and wrinkles up his nose.

“It’s not easier for them. Multiplication is as hard for them as division is for you. Does that make sense, Matthew?”

“No,” he frowns.

“Hmm, tell you what.” His teacher jots something down on a piece of paper. “I’ll call your family later, okay? They’ll be able to explain it to you a little better than I can.”

“What?” Matt’s hands grips the edge of the desk. “But I didn’t do anything wrong! Why do you have to call my parents?”

The bell rings a second time and his teacher gets up from her desk to bring them out to their buses. “You’re not in trouble,” she says as she shoos him towards his coat. “I’m just going to discuss some things with your parents to make sure we’re all on the same page. Okay?”

Matt nods, even though he doesn’t really get it, and works on his division tables on the bus ride home to distract himself.

 

They do talk about it when Matt gets home.

“So your teacher called today, Matt,” his dad says, glancing up from where he cuts another piece of chicken.

Matt almost bursts into frustrated tears right there. Instead, he only stabs at his food and mutters, “I didn’t do anything.”

“Hey, buddy. We know you didn’t do anything.” His dad leans down to meet Matt’s downcast eyes and sticks out his tongue once they make eye contact. Matt laughs despite himself. “That’s not what this is about. So you wanted to know why you’ve been taking different tests than the other kids in your class, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Your brain just works a little bit differently than your classmates. Some things, like maybe math, come easier to you than other people.”

“Now,” his mom interjects. “That doesn’t mean anyone is less than you are. Everyone’s good at different things. Some kids might be really good at sports. Some kids are good at art. Being smart certainly isn’t anything to be ashamed of but remember that being kind is the most important thing you can be.”

“I know, mom,” Matt grumbles.

 

At the end of the year, the school asks Matt and his family if they want to accelerate him but, in all her kindergarten prowess, Katie protests, “No! I’m going to catch up! It’s not fair if Matt gets even more ahead.”

Matt agrees and Katie gives him a huge smile.

 

3.

Matt hasn’t slept in three days.

His computer is mocking him, cursor just blinking and blinking until the screen dims and he moves his mouse to wake it again. He’s only typed three new words. He has to write at least another paragraph tonight.

_Why do you want to attend the Galaxy Garrison?_ the application reads.

He holds back a groan and leans back in his chair, rubbing at his burning eyes. He almost wants to write, _my dad works here, you have to accept me,_ but he can’t be that obnoxious and pretentious. He really does want to attend the Garrison but putting it down in words is like prying out his ribs one by one. Awful.

Finally, he turns to his still unfinished math homework. At least that should come easy to him.

It doesn’t. He can’t even do math correctly. How could he ever think he had a chance at the Garrison? Even if he gets in, they’ll crush him.

The lead of his pencil snaps.

Matt growls through his teeth and clicks the top for more lead for almost a minute before realizing the mechanical pencil must have run out of graphite. He roots through his bag (too aggressively) and throws the case of extra lead on his desk. He rips off the cap (too violently) and sticks of lead scatter across the table’s surface and spill onto the floor.

This time, he actually does scream. He slams his head into the desk. There are footsteps in the hall and the creak of his door opening. He doesn’t look up.

“Matt? Are you doing alright, honey?” He screws his eyes shut as he feels his face heating up. “Matthew?”

“I’m fine,” he chokes out, and there is it, the first tear. When it becomes clear his mom isn’t going to leave, he lifts his head. He swipes at his eyes and mutters again, “I’m fine. You don’t have to stay.”

His mom walks closer. “Why don’t you take a break? You’ve been working on this for weeks now.”

“And it’s still not done, mom! I need to…” A frustrated snarl escapes him as more tears drip down his face. “I just need to finish this.”

He doesn’t resist as his mom leans down to hug him. It makes the tears come even faster until his throat starts to burn and ache. “Dad’s going to think I’m so stupid,” he whispers into her shirt.

“Neither of us thinks you’re stupid.” She kisses the top of his head.

“But what if I don’t get in?”

“Then you don’t get in. You’ll go somewhere else and you’ll have a wonderful life and you’ll do great things. And we’ll still be proud of you.”

Matt smiles, still a small and fragile thing, and pulls away. He rubs at his cheeks with his sleeve. “I just… I want to go there so bad,” he confesses.

“I know, baby. But for tonight, why don’t you try and get some sleep? You can try again tomorrow, okay?” She taps on his desk.

“Okay,” Matt agrees.

 

The funny thing is he can’t fall asleep. He’s trying. He’s been trying for two hours. And all he’s really been doing is laying down on his bed, staring at those stupid, completely inaccurate glow-in-the-dark stars on his ceiling, and thinking about how much he wants to fly among them.

For years and years, he’s heard his dad recount his adventures. Missions to the moon and watching the world from so far above and glimpsing solar flares lick panes of reinforced glass. He wants desperately to be a part of something greater, something bigger than the world itself, and he knows he has to leave the bounds of this planet to do it.

As his eyes drift closed, the glowing stars wink at him. Maybe they’re making a promise.

 

2.

The two of them have spent their lives together. The Holt siblings: the menaces, the geniuses, the inseparable.

Matt never minded when Katie hung out with him and his friends. She’s as witty and funny as the best of them. It never felt like the babysitting it started out as. Once Katie gets older though, his friends start to question it.

_Isn’t she old enough to stay home alone? Does your little sister have to sleep over too? It’s not that we don’t like her, man, she’s great, but doesn’t she have her own friends?_

The last comment makes Matt pause. Of course she has friends. He can’t imagine why someone wouldn’t want to be friends with Katie. But… she never has any friends over. She never talks about her friends. He’s never even seen her with other kids from her school.

Matt bites his lip. That can’t be right. There’s got to be something he’s missing.

 

His friends invite him over to watch a movie a few days later and when Katie asks if she can come to, Matt inquires as casually as he can, “Maybe you want to go over to one of your friends’ houses. You never seem to hang out with them.”

Only silence answers him. Matt glances up to see Katie’s fingers paused over her keyboard. She swallows and goes back to typing. “Nah, they’re all busy,” she says.

“Yeah?”

“Yep.” Katie doesn’t look up.

“I mean… I’m just asking because I feel like I never see you hanging out with anyone in your grade, you know?”

Katie slams her laptop closed and Matt jumps. “Look, if you don’t want me there, just tell me!”

“W- What?” Matt stammers but Katie is already storming from the room. “Katie! Katie, come on!”

Matt curses under his breath with a groan, running his hands down his face. He really messed up this time, didn’t he? (Did he? He doesn’t even know what set her off.)

He flinches as he hears Katie’s door bang shut and the house rattles along with it. He finally gets to his feet and makes his way to Katie’s room. He knocks first but there’s no answer.

“Katie?” Matt sighs into the silence and leans his head against the door. “Katie, I didn’t mean it like that. I want you there. I really do. I love hanging out with you. You’re, like, the smartest person I know. I just want to make sure you have friends, which I know sounds so stupid, but… You have other friends, right? Other than me and my friends?” Matt waits, before asking again, “Katie?”

“I have friends, Matt! Just go away already!” She sounds a bit more watery than Matt had hoped but he doesn’t know what else to do. So he leaves it.

 

Matt privately wonders how to fix this while he lays awake in his bed until his door creaks open. He sits up, eyes widening at the sight of Katie. She’s rubbing at her eyes and at first he thinks it’s because of sleepiness but as she comes closer, it’s clear she’s crying.

“Matt?” she whispers. She crawls onto his bed as he sits there, frozen and useless. “I lied.”

A shock of cold spears through his heart. All he can seem to muster is a, “Hm?” but she barrels on.

“I- I don’t have any friends. They all h-hate me and they think I’m such a nerd and the only time they ever want to talk with me is when we have group projects-”

“Katie.”

“-and it’s just cause they want me to do all the work and then when I don’t do it they say that’s why they hate me and now you don’t even want to be around me so it must just be me-”

“Katie!” Matt grabs her shoulders and Katie jolts. “I want to be around you. I love spending time with you.” She looks away. “No, I mean it. No one else gets quantum frequencies like you do, right?” She laughs a little at that and Matt smiles before it turns again to a frown. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Katie curls into herself. “Because you have friends. And it’s just… It’s more complicated than that. I’ve spent my whole life trying to catch up to you, accelerated classes, skipping grades, and it makes all the other kids hate me even more. And I didn’t even catch up! You’re going to leave and then I’m really going to be alone!”

“Well, we don’t know-” Matt tries.

“Come on, you’re getting in. And I want you to. I know it’s your dream. I don’t want you to have to worry about your stupid younger sister.”

“Don’t say that. You’re a lot of things but you’re definitely not stupid.”

“Thanks,” Katie scoffs. “I don’t know. It’s just… hard.”

“It gets easier. When kids are your age, they’re insecure, you know? You make them nervous. I actually used to eat lunch with my guidance counselor instead of in the cafeteria.”

“Really?” Katie sniffles and Matt feels like a failure of an older brother.

“Yeah, really. I didn’t meet my friends until middle school.”

“So I have to wait.”

“I guess. But you’ll be okay.” Matt pulls her in for a hug and she lays on his chest for a few seconds before wrapping her arms around him and returning the embrace. Matt doesn’t know what else to say but as he gently strokes her hair and hugs her a little tighter, he hopes this is enough.

“Alright. Thanks, Matt.” Katie untangles herself and gets up, wiping away the last of her tears. She pauses right before she exits the room. “I just want you to know… I’m going to be okay. If you get in and have to leave. I mean, it’s going to suck for a little bit but I can handle it. And then I’m going to meet you at the Garrison.”

Matt doesn’t need a pinkie promise to believe her.

 

1.

In the mail, Matt receives one acceptance letter. (And at home, Matt has to say one goodbye.)

 

Matt doesn’t even read the rest of the letter from the Garrison. He’s starts crying, _crying,_ as he reads the header that says, _Congratulations!_ His mother snatches the paper from him as he buries his head in his hands but it’s tears of relief coursing down his face.

“Oh my god,” he whispers into his palms. His mom honest-to-god squeals and hugs him, knocking him out of his shock. “Mom,” he grumbles but a smile creeps onto his face as it hits him.

He made it in. He’s going to the Galaxy Garrison.

“I knew you could do it.” His mom brushes a hand against his cheek before pulling away. She claps her hands, grabbing her phone from the counter. “We have to tell your dad! He’s going to be so proud.”

 

He is. He promises to them that even though he won’t be able to make it to Matt’s graduation, he’ll be the first one to greet him when he arrives at the Garrison. “It’ll be good to have another Holt around,” he says.

 

Katie takes it much better than Matt thought she would. It’s been another bad day at school, he can tell, but as he shares the news, he sees the fire light in her eyes. This only motivates her further.

 

Summer comes and goes faster than Matt can ever remember. His things are slowly packed into boxes, clothes and photos and books and tangled headphones. Saying goodbye to his home is much more sweet than bitter. He can feel the stars nearly at his fingertips, so close, and he’s ready to reach out and grab his future.

Katie and his mom drive him down to the Garrison. Hugs are exchanged as his dad greets them at the gate. Boxes are moved and furniture is shuffled about. He looks out the window of his new room, the realization that _this is his life now_ hitting him hard.

He breathes deeply and smiles.

 

Katie lingers after their mom goes to start the car, the goodbye sticking in both of their throats. Her toes draw circles in the dirt and she holds her hands behind her back, gaze fixed on the ground.

“I’m going to miss you,” she finally mumbles.

“I’m gonna miss you too, Pidge.”

She huffs a laugh, muttering, “Don’t call me that.” The smile fades a bit. “Seriously though, I am going to miss you. Don’t forget to email or call or something.”

“I will. I promise.”

“Okay.” Katie finally meets his eyes. “This is only goodbye for now. Not for long. Because I’m going to catch up.” She jabs at his chest to emphasize her point. “Just wait.”

Matt grins and nods. He pulls her in for one last tight hug before she goes to follow their mom.

As they drive away from the Garrison, Matt sees Katie mouth, _See you soon._

To the wind, he whispers, “I know.”


End file.
